1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic vacuum powered cleaner for cleaning the bottom and side walls of a swimming pool. More particularly, the invention relates to a swimming pool cleaning device comprised of a car adapted to travel underwater along a random path on the bottom and to climb the side walls of a swimming pool.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Swimming pool cleaning for many years was a laborious hand operation typically accomplished by manipulating a vacuum head supported on a long pole extended down into the swimming pool. Initial attempts to automate pool vacuum cleaning included devices doing nothing more than agitating the water sufficiently to place the dirt in suspension with the intention that the dirt would be filtered out by the pool's standard filtration system. With such devices the dirt is not removed from the bottom of the pool, where it naturally settles, but is instead dispersed throughout the swimming pool water where it can be irritating and harmful to swimmers. Other prior art pool cleaning devices have included relatively complex switching mechanisms to reverse or alter the direction of movement of the devices on the pool floor while being substantially inoperative in pools having irregular shape and such devices have been incapable of climbing steep pool floor surfaces and pool walls.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,229,315, granted to B. H. Watson, there is disclosed a vacuum-type pool cleaning device including a housing supported on four wheels, two of which are power-driven and mounted on a pivotal yoke. The yoke has an off-center drive so that it will pivot when an obstruction (pool wall) is encountered thereby turning the device and permitting it to move about the pool bottom in a random pattern. The housing is connected through a hose to the pool's water circulating pump inlet so that water, and hence the dirt, is drawn directly from the bottom of the pool. The water is conducted through a hydraulic motor in the housing where it rotates an impeller that serves as the power source for turning the driven wheels mounted on the pivotal yoke.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,265, granted to J. S. Hoy, there is disclosed a vacuum powered swimming pool cleaner including a housing enclosing a reversible water driven impeller having a shaft and drive sprocket which is interconnected by drive belts to at least one pair of reversible drive wheels. As water is drawn through the impeller housing it is directed by a directional control flange through alternative paths to cause the impeller to rotate in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction thereby driving the pool cleaner device forwardly or rearwardly. The control flange is operated by a sliding directional control actuator bar which projects forwardly from the cleaner device in its direction of travel. When the cleaner device engages the side of the pool the control bar is pushed to a position at which it moves the control flange to change the path of water flow and reverse the rotational direction of the impeller and thus the direction of rotation of the drive wheels and the direction of movement of the cleaner device.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved vacuum powered automatic swimming pool cleaning device.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a vacuum powered swimming pool cleaning device with four wheel drive which is adapted to travel underwater along a random path on the bottom of a swimming pool.
It is another object of the invention to provide a vacuum powered swimming pool cleaner which rapidly reverses its direction of travel upon encountering a vertical pool wall or another object stopping its path of travel.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a vacuum powered swimming pool cleaning device that is capable of climbing the walls of the pool and upon reaching the surface of the water reversing its ascent travel mode to a decent travel mode to the bottom of the pool to again take a random path of travel across the bottom of the pool until another wall is reached for climbing.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a vacuum powered swimming pool cleaning device that will cover all areas of a pool floor and the pool walls without attention by an operator.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following summary and detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures.